THE WORSHIP NETWORK AND LIFEWAY ANNOUNCE PARTNERSHIP WITH THE RELEASE OF TRANSITIONS

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – November 10, 2005 – The Worship Network and LifeWay Worship Music Group have teamed up to create Transitions, an exclusive brand of innovative visual resources designed to create an atmosphere of worship at services and other church activities, announced Bruce Koblish, president of the Worship Network and Mike Harland, director of LifeWay Worship Music Group, a division of LifeWay Christian Resources.

The two companies have just released the first two DVD volumes for Transitions: Multimedia Calls to Worship, powerful and practical DVDs which feature a variety of instrumental, solo voice, and choral audio tracks combined with stunning visual nature images and inspiring quotes from Scripture.  Transitions grew from the concept of Worship, The Worship Network’s signature broadcast programming, which is designed to encourage worship of God through the use of nature images, music, Scripture and inspirational messages.  The new Transitions DVDs will have a myriad of applications for the life of a church, including during the prelude, postlude and offertory of a church service or during Sunday School classes, small groups, and other church activities. 

While other multimedia resources have been available to churches, primarily music CDs, the Worship Network and LifeWay product is the only one to emphasize the transition times “into” and “out of” worship services, and its use of video images in addition to music dramatically enhances the worship experience of a church.  

 “The Worship Network is pleased to partner with LifeWay in creating a unique resource like Transitions.  We can all relate to life’s distractions and commotions that can make it difficult for us to focus on the reason for being at church.  Transitions, via stunning images and inspiring music, offersa powerful way of helping a church’s congregation better prepare to worship or reflect on the worship experience,” said Koblish.  “We look forward to tapping into LifeWay’s expertise in marketing and distribution to churches as we strive to offer thousands of churches the opportunity to use this innovative new resource.”

“LifeWay Worship is excited to partner with The Worship Network, who has established a solid foundation in quality, uplifting television programming. Our combined passion for worship and people will help us provide multimedia for churches of any size. We pray Transitions will be used to help churches provide unique worship experiences for people as they seek a deeper relationship with God,” said Harland. 

Harland added that LifeWay, through its relationships with more than 60,000 Southern Baptist and other Christian church congregations nationwide, will make certain that Transitions has a wide distribution right from the start and is a priority for LifeWay Worship Music Group.

The first two DVDs in the Transitions series, Volume 1 and Christmas Volume 1, were just released.  Volume 1 is a non-seasonal resource that includes two discs, totaling two hours of video in eight 15-minute segments for use in church services throughout the year.  The music on the discs includes both original new music, traditional hymns like “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” and “Nothing But the Blood” and modern praise & worship songs like “Breathe” and “He Is Exalted.”  Volume 1 will retail for $29.95. 

Christmas Volume 1 features one disc with one hour of video in four 15-minute segments with beloved carol classics like “O Come, All Ye Faithful” and “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” and newer Christmas songs like “When Love Came Down.”  Many of the newer songs are written by LifeWay’s exclusive writers.  The Christmas Transitions will retail for $19.95. 

Transitions is designed for both churches with little or no experience in utilizing multimedia resources and the most technologically sophisticated mega-churches.  
The DVDs can be used as configured with the simple push of a “play” button on a DVD player, or it can be customized by individual users.  That is enabled by MPEG files of each song with images provided on the Transitions disc.  Using software such as Media Shout, SundayPlus, SongShow Plus, PowerPoint, and Easy Worship, churches can create custom packages to meet their congregation’s specific needs, such as creating packages of varying lengths, instrumental or vocal, or focused on a specific topic.

LifeWay will promote Transitions widely to both direct and trade markets in many of its product catalogs.  It will launch Transitions this month in its Inner Circle Club, a quarterly subscription service for churches and consumers that features new releases and demonstration materials.   In the October mailing, Inner Circle Club members received information about the Transition series along with a promotional DVD containing excerpts of the material included on the first two Transitions releases.   Additionally, LifeWay will feature Transitions at LifeWay Worship Music Group events and various trade conventions.  Significant efforts will also be made online via e-mail blasts and e-newsletters.  Transitions will have its own landing page at http://www.lifeway.com/transitions.

The Worship Network and LifeWay Worship Music Group plan to produce two Transitions products every quarter, with the next two volumes in the series releasing in early 2006 and including a specialty disc on Psalms for Worship.

About The Worship Network

The Worship Network is known for its unique and uplifting television programming, including its signature inspirational programming called Worship which is designed to encourage worship of God through the use of nature images, music, Scripture and inspirational messages.  Worship is seen on PAX Television’s digital channels 24 hours a day in more than 40 markets, via the Sky Angel satellite package and live streaming at www.worship.net. The Worship Network also syndicates Worship programs to over 100 affiliated television stations across the U.S. which collectively reach 46 million households, and to more than 50 foreign countries.  In addition to being delivered through the medium of television, The Worship Network is expanding to a growing number of other vehicles such as the Internet, publishing and retail.  The Worship Network has been recognized with numerous Telly Awards for its quality production and programming.

About LifeWay Worship Music Group

The premier provider of Christian music resources for churches and individuals, LifeWay Worship Music Group is committed to providing products, events, and solutions for music ministry based on the needs, interests and current practices within today’s church.

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